Saturday, October 3, 200927:05

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With the playoffs fast-approaching, last year’s World Series Champions are set to defend their title. Or are they? Bill talks with Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News about the Philadelphia Phillies’ shot at a repeat.

As baseball’s regular season draws to a close, so too does the tenure of one of America’s least-beloved ballparks—Minneapolis’ Metrodome. Only A Game’s Todd Melby tries to find someone who will miss watching baseball in the dome.

A recent study showed that former NFL players were much more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia than the non-football playing public. Is the league and the players’ own union ignoring the health risks of playing in the NFL? Only A Game’s Associate Producer Karen Given investigates.

When we think autumn, we normally think of changing leaves, pumpkin patches and Halloween. Many fans across North America, however, think ice. As the National Hockey League kicks-off its opening weekend, Bill talks with L.A. Times sportswriter Helene Elliott about all things hockey.

Bill talks to Jack Ridl, author of Losing Season, about the intersection of sports and literature and finding poetry in bad basketball.

Bill and Only A Game analyst Charlie Pierce tackle the most important of this week’s sports including Rio’s big party, baseball’s playoffs, and the brains behind the NFL.

Life is hard, especially for women, in the crowded Palestinian refugee camps in northern Lebanon. But, Right to Play, an organization dedicated to teaching life skills through sport, has brought a glimmer of hope to many young women facing the harsh conditions in the camps. Only A Game correspondent Ken Shulman investigated Right To Play’s impact.